It's All About The Sauce

Julia Child was an American chef, author and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to Americans. She lived to be almost 92. When asked what she attributed her longevity to she said, "Red meat and gin."

One of my favorite Julia quotes is "Always remember if you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always pick it up, who's going to know."  
Channeling Julia is a blog written by Julie Powell. http://channelingjulia.blogspot.com/
Her first blogs profiled 365 days of cooking of over 500 recipes from Julia Child's book Mastering The Art of French Cooking. Her blog later became a book and ultimately a movie titled: Julie and Julia in 2009 with Meryl Streep. 
As I began to compile some of my favorite sauces I couldn't help but think about Julia and her infamous sauces she made with lots of butter. 
This Bearnaise Sauce was one of her signature recipes.  As I looked over the ingredients I can see how much our cooking choices have evolved over the years.
Ingredients:
1/4  cup dry white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 TB. shallot
1 TB. dried tarragon
3 egg yolks 
2 sticks of butter
2 TB. fresh tarragon
if you want to proceed to directions for this sauce follow this link
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/bearnaise-sauce-recipe3/index.html

Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of rhubarb-cleaned and diced
• 2 cups of strawberries-sliced
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup water
• 1 TB. lemon juice
• 3 TB. orange juice

Directions:

• Mix sugar and cinnamon
• Toss rhubarb with sugar/cinnamon and let sit in a pan for 20 minutes
• Add water and cook on medium heat till sugar dissolves
• Add strawberries and simmer about 15 minutes
• Mix cornstarch with lemon juice and 3 TB. orange juice 
• Add to fruit mixture and cook till thick on a medium low heat
• Optional: 2 drops of red food coloring

Serving suggestions: serve over cheesecake or angel food cake or shortcakes/biscuits

Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 TB. tapioca
• 1 package frozen sweetened raspberries, thawed in the juices from the box
• 1 pint of fresh raspberries
• ½ cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1 TB. butter

Directions:

• In a large saucepan, combine sugar and tapioca
• Add one package of raspberries stir to coat
• Let stand 15 minutes
• Stir in water, cinnamon stick, salt and nutmeg
• Bring to a slow boil stirring occasionally
• Remove from heat and add lemon juice and butter
• Add pint fresh raspberries
• Cool at least 15 minutes then refrigerate
• Remove cinnamon stick before serving

Serving Suggestions: serve over ice cream or white cake or cheesecake or shortcakes


Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1-cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3-cup sugar
• 1/3-cup light corn syrup
• 12-oz. bittersweet chocolate cut in ½ inch pieces
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 TB. Kahlua or Grand Marnier or rum

Directions:

• Combine the cream, sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and place on low heat
• Bring to a boil, stirring often
• Off heat head chocolate and shake pan to submerge chocolate in hot liquid
• Let stand 3 minutes until chocolate melted, then whisk smooth  
• Whisk in salt and vanilla and liqueur or rum
• Store sauce in a tightly covered jar and refrigerate. Reheat over simmering water before serving

Serving suggestions: serve over ice cream, chocolate cake

Bourbon and Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce

Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine June 2011

Ingredients:

• 1-cup ketchup
• ½ cup bourbon
• 3 TB. brown sugar
• 3 TB. light molasses
• 3 TB. apple cider vinegar
• 2 TB. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 TB. soy sauce
• 1 TB. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions:

• Bring all ingredients to boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally
• Reduce heat, simmer until sauce is reduced to 2 cups stirring often about 10 minutes
• Cover and chill

Serving suggestions: serve over ham or ribs or pork

Honolulu Sauce

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup margarine
• ½ cup ketchup
• ½ cup orange juice
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 TB. soy sauce
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• 2 TB. cornstarch

Directions:

• Mix cornstarch with orange juice
• Add rest of ingredients and cook on low heat till thickened

Serving suggestions: Serve over pork or chicken or ham

Currant Sauce

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup red currant jelly
• ½ cup dry red wine (Burgundy or Merlot)
• ¼ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 TB. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• ¼ tsp dry mustard

Directions:

• Mix cornstarch with wine
• Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan
• Bring to boil over medium heat-cook 2 minutes

Serving Suggestions:Serve over chicken or pork or ham